The majority of these violations were illeagle baiting of deer. Minnesota does not allow baiting and many of these people freely choose to bait. I do not feel sorry for them in the least bit. As for the confiscated weapons they will be sold at auction so the the funds can help support the DNR. Shooting deer trained to come in at a certain time for food just don't seem like hunting to me.

You ever succeed in training deer, Santa is looking for a new reindeer wrangler. Baiting is legal here in Ohio, and stats show NO significant difference between hunting over bait or not, It is just another tool that might or might not work, today. And don't tell me that food plots aren't bait. They are there to feed and hold deer in the area, and they are used just like a pile of corn, or apples or an orchard, The only difference is wiether God put them there, or you did.

The only real difference between a good tracker and a bad tracker is observation. All the same data is present for both. The rest is understanding what you are seeing.

....and you can control how much, when and location whenever you choose...daily if desired. I used to have a corn pile in my front yard when it was legal (not for hunting, just for feeding, Illinois has never had legal baiting). I know how they work.

Sorry, but they are NOT "his" deer. They belong to the people of the state collectively. And please....this is NOT the 1920's (yet). There are social services, church groups, hunters for the hungry and MANY other agencies that will see to it that you don't go hungry. In the part of Illinois where I hunt, if someone...a local especially...made it known that they needed the meat, they would have deer dropped off at their doorsteps all season long. My farmer buddy gets issued depredation tags and he's ALWAYS looking for folks to give the meat to.

So....where do you draw the line on when it's OK to break the law? Stealing a deer to eat is OK, but not stealing food from a store for the same reason.

And so far no one has answered my question about the same hungry soul killing a trophy buck and selling it for enough to feed his family for a year. By that reasoning that should be OK too...no?

Woods Walker wrote:....and you can control how much, when and location whenever you choose...daily if desired. I used to have a corn pile in my front yard when it was legal (not for hunting, just for feeding, Illinois has never had legal baiting). I know how they work.

Every thing you oppose about corn piles, is true of food plots (which are legal, and highly used near you), except the moving it around part. I have never know someone to move a pile once it is placed. They might do a new pile elsewhere, but moving it around would be detrimental to useing it to hunt. We humans may chase a Roach Coach around a construction site, but deer exspect their food to stand there and take it like a plant! Moving it around would set off alarm bells, Set it and forget it, Let them get used to it, and let your scent wash away.

The only real difference between a good tracker and a bad tracker is observation. All the same data is present for both. The rest is understanding what you are seeing.

You said it yourself Kellory THEY BECOME USED TO IT'S LOCATION. In my book that is a trained reaction. And yes food plots is a form of baiting. Although this is normally beneficial to archers only in Minnesota as firearm season usally is covered in snow. Admittally this was not the case this year with 40 degree weather. I must also add I don't hunt corn fields or food plots. I hunt stalking, stand hunting and preplanning. hunting is about waiting for the opportunity then making the cleanest kill possible.

If you know how they work then you know that their no big difference WW But i honestly don't think you have a clue. So your saying people that plant in a certain area too attract deer to that point is not like people that throw corn out for the same reason?

I will answer your other ????? I have answered this in the past and it bothers me that people would actually put a deer ahead of a hungry family trying to make ends meat or feed their family or whatever their dier situation is at the time! Till you lived in their shoes I wouldn't be so quick to answer questions that you have no idea about. Instead of asking us that question raise your head up and ask the good LORD if he would care...

mnslayer wrote:You said it yourself Kellory THEY BECOME USED TO IT'S LOCATION. In my book that is a trained reaction. And yes food plots is a form of baiting. Although this is normally beneficial to archers only in Minnesota as firearm season usally is covered in snow. Admittally this was not the case this year with 40 degree weather. I must also add I don't hunt corn fields or food plots. I hunt stalking, stand hunting and preplanning. hunting is about waiting for the opportunity then making the cleanest kill possible.

They get used to it, just like acorns, apples, clover, huney suckle, corn, and anything else that naturally grows in your area. JUST LIKE A NATURAL FOOD CROP! And your method of hunting is a personal to you as your underwear, and just as private. It is a personal dicision as to the method you choose to use. Preplanning is key, as you say, you would not hunt around an orchard? or a stand of white oaks? If you choose to ignore a natural draw provided by God, that is your choice, and I wish you well with it. It will help you when you are hunting parkinglots, and sand dunes. Without the draws, there is no reason for the deer to be there, and they know it, and we know it. Plant a tree, and watch it grow, rest in it's shade, eat it's nuts, harvest it's lumber, but don't hunt around it because the deer are more likely to wanting to benefit as well? Redicules! If I pour out accorns for deer feed (in season) that is called baiting (legal here) if I do it in the off season, then it is just feeding, (also legal and smiled upon here) If some of those accorns sprout and take root, then there is a future hunting spot, and NOT concidered baiting, because it GREW there, yet I placed it there in the first place! Same with food crops, food plots, and apple trees. If I plant apples on a slope for good drainage, and wait a few years, I will again have a pile of apples, piled up by God and gravity! and yet more trees! dropping yet more apples. The only difference is time You say preplanning? Here is the theory made into practice. Is God guilty of baiting? He started the practice. We did not develope in the dessarts, or rocky mountian tops, We moved there only after being well established. We prospered where we had food, water, and shelter, and a lack of preditors. IE: food (natural or bait), water (of course), bedding/ shelter, and hunting pressure.(us) as well as 'yotes, wolves. wild dogs, ect. We humans followed the food for a large part of our early history, until we essentialy baited ourselves, and planted our crops for food later, instead of now. The only difference is time. Baiting is really nothing more than placing food on the ground, rather than in the ground. The rest is just waiting. If accorns grow on the property, and I rack them into a pile, have I baited? If I move them from the middle of the lawn to the fencerow, have I baited? I have added nothing that was not already there. Same with apple or corn? If the corn I lay out sprouts, it is not bait, but the seeds themselves are? why? The only dofference is time. Redicules.

The only real difference between a good tracker and a bad tracker is observation. All the same data is present for both. The rest is understanding what you are seeing.